But That's When It Was Good
by WATERMELON-S33DS
Summary: most people wouldn't look at a kid like gabe and think he'd grow up to be known as "the ultamite weapon". read to find out how he grew up and find out who his family and friends were! rated T for a bit of blood, violence, and swearing! reviews are always welcome.
1. Chapter 1

"Come on, baby bro!" The child called down from where he sat, high up in the trees branches. Down below an even younger child was trying his best to get a grip on the bark of the plant, but kept sliding down or falling off as he tried to climb. With one swift movement the older of the two let his weight shift, he swung down on the branch until he was upside and hanging from his legs.

"I can't d-do it!" The younger called, sitting down in defeat and rubbing one of his eyes to try and stop the tears that threatened to flow.

"Don't say that, just try really, really hard! I know you can do it!" He called down to his brother, who looked back up at him with tears in his large, green eyes. Determined to make his older brother proud, the smaller boy stood once again and dug his finger tips into the wood of the tree. He screwed his eyes shut and did what he had been told to do. With one hand over the other he continued to catch his grip and pull himself up further, occassionally feeling around to grab onto a branch when he could.

"Boop!" The older brother chimed as he tapped his finger on his brother's nose. "I told you! I knew you could do it!" He dropped down from his perch and onto the branch where the other sat.

"I-I did it?" The boy looked around in amazement. "I did it!" He cheered and hugged his brother.

"Samuel! Gabriel! Dinners almost ready!" Came a woman's voice from the ground. The two looked over to see a red headed woman looking up at them, her clothes were old and torn, just like the clothing that the boys wore, and she held an old spoon in her hand.

"Race you down?" Sam challanged the younger of the two.

"N-no!" Gabe protested, looking down nervously at how high up they were.

"Fine..." Sam chuckled and ruffled Gabe's hair. "Grab on, I'll take you down~" The smaller of the two obeyed, latching onto his brother's back like a baby koala to it's mother, holding tightly as their descent started.


	2. Chapter 2

"I bet I can get more than you!" Sam shouted, adjusting the blue bandana that he wore around his neck and flipping his dark red hair so it wouldn't obscure his vision.

"Dream on!" Gabriel shouted in response, taking a leap and attatching himself to the side of a tree with a well-trained grip. The two children, now of ages 4 and 7, began scurrying around the thick wooded area to collect fruits and nuts for them to snack on until dinner, they also had to save a few for their parents to cook. This was what their everyday life was, having to send children to collect food as items from stores and markets were far too expensive for the homeless family, but they were happy this way. The parents had plenty of time to relax due to being unemployed, and the kids weren't restricted to certain areas in which they could play.

Sam, having more experience in climbing and jumping, had quickly gathered and armful of tasty looking fruits, while his brother was still working on climbing the tree he had chosen.

"See you at home, loser!" He chuckled as he grabbed a vine with one hand and slid down it, making sure not to loose any of his precious bounty. Gabe growled and thought up a plan. With a grunt he dropped about 10 feet to the ground and ran into the forest. Two dainty fingers were put into his mouth and he whistled loudly, a few slugs peeked out from the bushes and peered at him curiously.

"Can you guys help me out?" He smiled as he asked the creatures, who all tilted their heads and chirped among each other before agreeing to the boy's request.

"Ma! Pa! Guess who's got dinner!" Samuel chimed as he showed off his collection of fruits to the parents.

"Good job honey~" The mother patted the boy on the head and signaled for him to leave his findings on a makeshift table they had, which was just the trunk of a giant mushroom with a torn up blanket covering it.

"Welp, ya may have gotten here first, but your brothers got you beat." The father chuckled, scratching at the scruff on his face. Gabriel stepped into their camp, carrying a few edible plants in his hands, but along the ground was a crowd of slugs all carrying two or three items for the family.

"Dude! You're cheating!" Sam pointed and accused his brother.

"There's never been a rule against getting help!" The younger pouted and glanced down at his tiny friends, who all looked a little bit guilty. "Don't worry guys..." He reassured them.

"It doesn't matter who wins or looses, all that matters is that our growing boys are eating." Their mother laughed and ruffled Sam's hair. "Now, Sterling, sweetie," The woman walked towards her husband. "go and clean up with the boys, I'll finish up here." With a quick kiss to his cheek the man went on his way with two boys happily following behind him.

"How're ya handling, Delilah?" Came the rough voice of an old man, the one who was in charge of making sure everybody within the camp was safe and well attended for.

"I'm doing well, thank-you, Major." Delilah smiled at the man, who tilted his hat towards her in goodbye and went on his way. As she set the last plate down onto the makeshift table she could see three heads of hair coming up over the side of the hill, the three males returning from their trip to the river, with clean-ish hands that were ready to shove food into hungry mouths.


	3. Chapter 3

"You alright, sweetheart?" Sterling asked his wife as he approached her slowly. The woman looked up at him with tired blue eyes and sighed.

"Aye, I'm just... worried for the boys..." She looked out to where the children played. "What are we going to do when they get older? They'll loose interest in the magic of Slugterra... exploring will become boring for them... our babies deserve better than that." She sighed as she looked out at the boys, who were prancing around with a friendly stray animal they had found in the woods. Delilah knew they'd beg to keep the thing, even though they knew supplying food for it would not be easy. The creatured stopped for a moment and looked into the bush, before bounding off, most likely to join it's pack before they were seperated.

"Bye-bye!" Gabe called as the two boys waved the creature goodbye. But, the game wasn't over yet. Sam tackled the smaller boy to the ground and the two of them began wrestling and rolling on the ground, coating their clothes in dirt and grime.

"I just don't know what to do, my dear..." Sterling sighed and sat down next to Delilah, who rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes to find peace. Off in the distance they could hear two men complaining about something ridiculous...

"It's impossible! There's nobody out their who sells any of these slugs for good prices, they're all under-powered and over-priced!" One of them complained, slapping a list of slugs that they needed to buy for a show later that month.

"Aye... it'll be weeks before we find anybody who can catch Hoprocks and teach them all these ridiculous moves!" The taller one shouted and kicked at a pebble on the ground.

"Boon Docs are a whole other story..." The smaller one huffed as he crumpled up the list and tossed it over his shoulder. Delilah turned her head carefully and waited until the men were gone before dashing over and picking up the list.

"I've... I've got an idea..." She looked at her husband with a bright glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"And what would that be?" Her husband smirked at her, knowing her plans were usually pretty good.

"Gabriel's good with slugs... if we got him to catch a few for us... we could sell those for cheap then buy the boys blasters so they could train the little monsters, so we could sell them for more!" Her eyes lit up as she spoke.

"And as they get stronger... we can raise the price and buy upgrades for the boys, meaning those slugs will power up more..." He responded, waving a finger in the air as his sentence trailed off.

"We could eventually get ourselves a nice home!" She Delilah cheered as Sterling hugged her around the waist and lifted her, spinning her around in the air with glee. The boys heard none of their plan, but looked over curiously when they saw their parents rejoicing.

"Old people are weird..." Sam raised and eyebrow.

"Yeah..." Gabe nodded in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4

"Everybody move along calmly and as quickly as possible!" Major's voice echoed through the camp as he urged people to speed up their evacuation from the area.

"Mom! Wh-what's going on?!" Samuel shouted as he ran into the tent.

"It's... it's alright sweetie, I-I promise!" His mother tried her best to reassure him. "Wait... where's your brother!?" She began panicking and pushed past the boy, running to the exit so she could look out into the flames that covered every part of the camp. Somebody, most likely a rich person with a lot of power, had attacked the camp in attempt to drive the homeless people away, a shitty way of motivating them to get jobs and move on with their lives.

"He's out in the woods. I-I couldn't find him." Samuel began sobbing, fearing for the safety of his brother.

"Don't worry, I've got the lad." Sterling ran up to them with a small boy in his arms, who was unconscious and had a thin trail of blood running down his face.

"What happened to him!?" Sam ran up to his brother, taking his tiny frame from the man's arms and holding him carefully.

"I think he fell out of a tree... at least I'm hoping that's what happened..." The man added the last part in as blasters sounded in the distance, slugs being fired at the ground to disrupt whatever peace was left. "We've got to get going!" He urged his family on, catching up with them only after he grabbed a briefcase off the table.


	5. Chapter 5

"I hear there's monsters out there... ones that really like little boys... little boys with green eyes and red hair, especially if their hair is two different shades of red..." Samuel grinned wickedly trying to scare his younger brother. The 6 year old just pouted at him.

"Your stories are so lame!" Gabe giggled and pushed his brother as hard as he could, the bigger boy barely shifted from the force.

"Welp, you can't blame me for trying." He laughed as his tackled the smaller boy and began tickling him, the two of them giggling as they wrestled on one of the fancy beds in their room.

"Boys." Came a woman's voice, stern and unimpressed.

"Hey... mom..." Sam swallowed hard as he dove over to his own bed.

"You know you two have school tomorrow, and it's your brothers first day, please let him get his rest." She scolded the 9 year old and tucked them both into bed, giving them both kisses on the forehead before leaving.

"I bet the monster likes annoying big brothers more." Gabriel giggled and looked at his brother, who snickered quietly.

"It's beautiful, isn't it." Sterling seemed to sing as he mused at their lawn. It had only been a year or two since they began their business in selling and trading slugs, and they were already living high-and-mighty thanks to the talent of their youngest son.

"It really is..." She swaggered over to her husband and began rubbing his shoulders, feeling the tension melt away slowly from his body. "I'm just... I'm happy that the boys are finally getting to experience a decent life... I'm glad that they'll have some positive part of their childhoods to look back on." Her voice fell into a whisper as she leaned her chin on top of the man's head, humming a tune that was slow and sweet.


	6. Chapter 6

Four boys stood in a field and tossed a ball back and forth, throwing and catching with skill. Two of them were the Maker brothers, now 7 and 10 years old, the other two were friends of Samuel.

"Oh... I'm sorry..." Gabriel whined as he watched the ball roll across the ground and past him.

"Don't worry about it!" Sam called as the boy ran into the bush to retrieve the toy.

"Hey... we don't mean to be rude, but your brothers kind of lame..." One of the boys spat, he brushed his hair out of his face and sneered, carrying an arrogant aura as he spoke.

"Yeah... he can't even catch a ball!" The other one joined in on the complaining.

"He's young and he doesn't have many friends, of course he's not gonna be that good at it!" Sam raised his voice in response, feeling his anger boil towards his friends.

"There's a reason why nobody likes him..." The first boy spat on the grouned and kicked up some dirt.

"Is... I know..." A whimper sounded from near the bushes where a little boy stood, his red hair hung over his face and his neat blue clothes covered his now quivering body. "I'm sorry." Tears fell down Gabe's cheeks, brought on by a feeling of guilt for annoying the three older boys.

"That's not true!" Sam threw his glove onto the ground and got down onto one knee so he could look his brother in the eye. "There are people that like you! Th-these guys are just jealous becase everybody hates them!" Sam spoke loud enough so the other two boys could hear them. He shot a dirty glare over his shoulder as he led his brother away. "Including us!" He shouted back, chuckling at how offended the two looked at his statement.

"Thanks..." When the two were a good distance away from the others Gabe finally spoke, hugging his brother tightly and wiping tears from his big green eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

With teary eyes and a bloody elbow, 9 year old Gabriel walked slowly into the nurse's office as he was lead by a teacher. He sniffled and sat down in a chair, sobbing and keeping his hand pressed tight onto the gushing wound.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. The nurse is going to take good care of you." The teacher crouched next to the crying red head and tried to reassure him. "Are you going to be alright on your own?" Gabriel responded by shaking his head furiously, not wanting to be alone after what had happened. "Alright..." The woman glanced around for a few seconds before spotting a little blonde girl sitting across the room from them. Brown eyes focused on the two of them when she realized she was being watched.

"Hello?" The little girl's smile was wide and more than friendly.

"Could you watch over him for a few minutes? Just until the nurse comes by?" The teacher asked hopefully.

"Yeah! Of course! I've been wantin' some company!" The girl skipped over and sat next to Gabe, she seemed to be cradling her left arm carefully. "I'm Francine!" She shouted and stared at the young boy, who leaned away slightly, as he felt nervous being that close to a stranger...

"I-I'm Gabe..." The red head stuttered and swallowed. Francine giggled and blew a lock of her blonde hair out of her face, taking on a friendly smile immediately after.

"Whoa! Your arm is super bloody! What happened?" Her grin widened as she looked at gabe's arm with extreme curiousity, Gabe was a little put off, as he never expected somebody that wore floral dresses to be interested in blood and injuries...

"I... some bigger kids... pushed me... a-and I think I landed on something sharp..." Gabe rubbed his elbow, feeling something smooth and pointed sticking out from his tender flesh.

"What!? How old were they!?" Francine questioned.

"I... they were two y-years older than me... I-I think... they were 11..." He swallowed hard, still feeling nervous near the girl.

"I'll teach 'em a lesson!" Francine huffed. "I'm a year older than them, so they have to be afraid of me!" She smiled and tilted her head slightly.

"Uh... thanks..." Gabe smiled back at her and glanced at her arm for a second.

"Oh, yeah, I just fell out of a tree and landed weird. It really hurt!" She whined like a little puppy and stuck her lower lip out. "My parents are gonna take me to the hospital to get it looked at and maybe put in a cast... can you sign it when I get back!?" Her eyes seemed to sparkle and she looked down at Gabriel, who was a little surprise at being asked to do something so important to someone he just met. He didn't want to disappoint the girl, so he nodded his head and smiled at her.

"Sure." He giggled when her face lit up.

"Awesome! Say, you got any friends? You seem really cool and I want to hang out with you!" She leaned closer to him.

"I-I only have my older brother... he-he's the same age as you." Gabe looked down at his hand, which was coated with blood and seemed to be cut up from whatever was sticking out from his elbow.

"Sweet!" Francine cheered right before two older looking folks walked into the room. "I gotta go, it was nice meeting you!" She waved goodbye to the boy as she was led out by the adults. Gabe watched her go with a smile on his face, feeling more than just happy with making a new friend.


	8. Chapter 8

"One day I'm gonna be just like Will Shane!" Francine cheered, jumping down from the short ledge she had been walking on.

"Really?" Gabriel looked at her and tilted his head.

"Yeah! I'm gonna be a super great hero, slinging slugs and kicking butt!" She punched the air enthusiastically.

"Well... I kind of want to be like him as well, or at least work with him!" Gabe tucked his hands into his pockets and smiled. "It's been a dream of mine to be a part of his gang! I'd be a great addition! I think..." He trailed off the last part of his sentence, not wanting to sound too cocky.

"I think you'd be great as well~" Francine smiled at him sweetly and giggled when his cheeks took on a reddish tint.

"Y-you really think so?" Green eyes seemed to sparkle up at the taller girl.

"Yeah! You're super sweet and I've seen you with slugs, you're really good with them!" She took his wrists and tugged them slightly, Gabe pulled his hands out of his pockets in response, letting her grabs his hands to twirl him around the path.

"Same to you! I-I mean... you'd be a really good addition, you're a lot of fun! I bet you'd be a great slinger!" He smiled widely and quickened his pace so they swung around faster, until the two of them lost their grips and fell onto opposite sides of the road. Gabriel sat up and rubbed the back of his head, panicking when Francine didn't move.

"Boo!" She yelled loudly, laughing when the boy yelped at her sitting up suddenly and shouting.


	9. Chapter 9

"Are you excited?" Delilah cheered as she took a picture of Gabriel in his gi.

"I'm... kind of nervous to be honest..." Gabe swallowed hard and looked out to all the other kids who were grinning with their families.

"Come one bro! It's just one summer! I'm sure you'll feel better about it by the end and never want to leave!" Sam tried to reassure his sibling, who simply looked at him with disbelief.

"He's right, it's only your first year, so don't start thinking it's gonna be a horrible experience. Besides, it's not like you're the only 10 year old here!" Sterling added in, laughing and patting his son on the back. Gabe swallowed hard and took another look out to the crowd. There was one person who caught his eye, at first the boy looked like nothing more than a shadow, but opun closer inspection it could be seen he was an adctual person, with very dark skin and messy black hair. Whoever this guy was, he seemed to be glaring at Gabe, at least until the red head looked back at him, which was when the boy focused his gaze on some random rock on the other side of the field.

"Come on, sweetie, we need to sign you in~" Delilah urged Gabe on, Sam followed behind with the boy's bags. Their father had left to wait with the mecha that was parked outside with everybody elses rides.

"Welcome!" A young woman stepped forward, her hair was long and mousy, catching the light in a way that made it shine like smooth metal. "My name is Vanessa, and this is Sensei Takeshi. She'll be your teacher." The woman motioned to an older looking lady who was standing off to the side, watching over her students, both the new ones and those who were returning from previous years.

Introductions were given through a bunch of silly name games led by Vanessa. Everyone was given free time to set up their rooms for the summer and to hang out among their peers. Gabriel had chosen to spend his time in his room, looking through the pages of an empty book, occassionally scribbling something onto the paper or writing down a quick note that he'd want to remember. There was a knock on his door which broke him out of his concentration.

"I'm decent..." He called and sat up, looking curiously at who had entered. It was sensei Takeshi. Gabe immediately sat up and bowed as he had been taught to do, the old woman bowed back before speaking.

"I'm just here to check up on you... you're missing a lot, you know. Everybodye else is out in the field playing games and chasing around slugs." She looked at the boy curiously.

"W-well... I've never been one for big groups. I-I like being on my own..." He rubbed the back of his neck and refused to make eye contact with the woman. Takeshi scoffed and responded.

"There's another boy here like you... he's been cleaning the kitchen for half an hour now just so he doesn't have to go and spend time around everyone else. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you join him."

"I-I'd prefere staying on my ow-"

"You either clean with the other kid, or you go out into the field." Takeshi grinned to herself as the boy ran off towards the kitchen.


	10. Chapter 10

Gabe looked through the kitchen door quickly, seeing that the boy who was cleaning inside was the kid who had been staring at him earlier... his skin was shining slightly in the dim lights as he mopped the floor, meaning he must've been working pretty hard if he had worked up a sweat...

"What do you want?" The boy spat, his voice deep an intimidating.

"I-I'm here to help you clean..." Gabe took a step forward, but stopped when two eyes were turned in his direction and stared daggers at him.

"I'm working on my own..." He turned back to his work, shoving the mop into a bucket of water and dragging it over the surface of the floor.

"Then work on your own with the mop. I'll... I'll start cleaning the counter tops." The red head spoke, all he received in response was an annoyed grunt, so he figured it was ok for him to start working. He managed to find an old rag what would work nicely for cleaning, he used the tap to wet it slightly and wrung it out. Neither boy said a word as they worked, Gabe would occassionally look over his shoulder to the older one of the two, who would either have his back turned or would glare at Gabriel.

"So... how old are you?" Gabe asked finally breaking the silence. Neither spoke for a few seconds.

"12." Was all he got in response.

"Oh... ok... M-my names Gabriel, by the way." The red head tried to sound as friendly as possible, he once again received nothing but a glare in response. But, this time Gabe managed to catch something strang about the boys eyes, they were two different colours. His right eye was a deep, dark blue, while his other was teal.

"Dane. And stop looking at me... freak..." Dane hissed, not appreciating how often Gabriel's gaze landed on him.

"Ah... sorry..." Gabe cleared his throat and continued cleaning.


	11. Chapter 11

The summer seemed to go by quickly, new students had been taken to seperate lessons at the beginning to learn the basics from Vanessa, while those who had been ther for more than 3 years went with Takeshi to build upong those moves. Halfway through the season both groups merged together and started a tournament that went on for the remaining few weeks, with two or three fights a day.

It seemed like no time had passed at all between the time he hadn't wanted to leave his parents and when his brother ran up from the gates of the temple to give him a hug.

"You're hurting me!" Gabriel giggled as his brother rubbed his fist into the boys skull in a noogie.

"I missed you! I gotta make up for lost time!" The boys laughed and ran to join their parents who had been calling for them. They all said their thank-yous and headed out.

Gabe's summers continued on like this until he was 13 years old. By this point he was at the top of his class, and tied with non-other than Dane Hydra, the boy who had been giving him sour looks whenever they were in the same room together.

He stood in the bathroom, adjusting his hair and tucking it back so he'd be able to see better during the final round, his opponent being the blue-teal eyed boy that he had grown to know well. With a point he messed up the hair on the back of his head, not appreciating the darker patch of red that covered the entire lower half of the mop. A noise from out in the hall caught his attention, as he ran out to see what it was he ended up running into the solid chest of the boy he had been previously thinking about.

"Oh... hey Dane!" He greeted him cheerfully, getting nothing more than a typical sneer from the guy.

"I want to fight you." The words caught Gabriel off guard. "You know... a friendly spar..." Dane's lips curled up into a crooked grin as he offered to shake hands with the small boy. This was the first time that the boy had ever been seen smiling, it was kind of scary and Gabe wished that he wouldn't have to see if very often ever again... trying not to focus on the look he was being given, he shook hands with the boy and was dragged off to an empty room, most likely Dane's which he had cleaned out earlier in the day so he could pack up to go home.

It had started off well, just a few friendly kicks and punches, but as time passed Dane began to grow more aggressive and had this look in his eyes... almost like he wanted blood. Gabriel had a bit of trouble with keeping up with the boys movements, blocking them each time they were thrown, at least, that was until a heel made contact with his nose. All he heard was a loud CRACK before he fell back and couldn't stand back up due to a larger male straddling his midsection.

"Nice jo-" He tried to congratulate the victor, but stopped speaking as soon as his breathing did the same. There was a heavy pressure on his neck, Gabe looked up to see Dane strangling him, strong hands wrapped around a thing throat and cutting off airflow. He tried pounding the ground with his fist to show he was done and that Dane had won, but the boy didn't quit.

"Pathetic!" Dane shouted at Gabe as he tightened his grip. "You don't deserver MY title! You're pathetic! Trash! You should die! I'm gonna kill you!" With every word Dane tightened his grip and had even slammed the back of Gabe's head against the floor a few times, causing the boy to become closer and closer to blacking out. The red head was terrified, not only could he not breathe, but he couldn't scream for help either! All he could do was pray that they'd notice both the boys missing and try to find them.

As he finished that thought something hard smacked him right in the jaw, then came back and got him on the other side of his face. Dane continued to beat the boys face until he grew tired of that and continued choking, at this point Gabe's face had begun turning purple, he thought he was going to die... until all pressure was relieved and he was pulled up from the ground.

"What are you doing!?" Came Vanessa's screams, in a matter of seconds she had kicked Dane off of Gabe and was now holding the attacker, face down with his arms behind his back. The boy snarled and squirmed to try and get back at his prey.

"He's pathetic! He doesn't deserve to live!" The boy managed to lunge forward but was stopped by Vanessa's grip on his arms. Dane fell to the ground whimpering as his arm was twisted at a painful angle.

"Are you alright?" Came Takeshi's voice. She was holding Gabriel up in a sitting position, the boy simply blinked at the woman before passing out.


	12. Chapter 12

"Are you alright!?" Delilah ran up to her son, who was shaking and had his head hung low.

"He... he's fine. He just had a little incident with one of the other students..." Vanessa glanced over her shoulder to see Dane walking away on his own, she took note of it but decided it'd be left until she was finished with the Makers.

"Incident!? What kind of incident leaves a kid in this kind of condition!?" Sterling spoke up, his voice loud and clear.

"One of the other students... something happened to them, they ended up becoming kind of... unstable... and attacked Gabe..." She explained, wincing when the family looked at her with terrified expressions.

"Who is this kid!? I'll kill him!" Sam finally spoke up, his dad patting him on the back to calm him down. The 16 year old shook the man's hand off and glared at the crowd of children who stood around the temple.

"I'm fine..." Gabe finally spoke up, his voice sounded completely different as it had earlier that day. There was nothing of that happy tone he always carried left, he no longer sounded like a joy filled child, but a broken man with a monotone voice. He lifted his head just enough so he could see his family, who all stared in shock at him, his eyes were dark and bloodshot. "Take me home." He demanded before wandering off towards his father's mecha beast.

"We... we're very sorry. You... might want to take him to see a doctor, just to make sure none of the damage was too bad. We know he had his nose broken, but you should take him in to make sure nothing else is too bad." Vanessa told Delilah, who held a tight grip on Sam's shoulder to keep herself calm.

"...Right..." The woman muttered as she led her oldest son along.


	13. Chapter 13

"Little red~" A larger boy taunted, holding tight onto the blue collar of Gabriel's shirt.

"Leave me alone." The red head grunted, crinkling his nose at the boy in disgust. "Put me down!" He gave the boy a harsh kick to the knee, as he couldn't reach anything else with how he was dangling.

"Alright." He dropped Gabe onto the ground and gave him a harsh push, knocking him onto the ground and into the dirt.

"Assholes." Gabe hissed, dusting off his legs.

"What was that, Blue Boy? Couldn't here you over the sound of you eating dirt!" Another boy shouted, wrapping an arm around Gabe's neck, which sent the boy into a minor panic at not liking his neck being touched, and proceeding to shove dirt into his face.

"Back off!" Came the booming voice of Samuel Johnson Maker, who towered over the younger boys. As they were distracted Gabe took his chance and took a deep bite out of the arm that was wrapped around his neck, holding on for a few seconds as his attacker struggled to get away, which ripped open the wound even more and filled Gabriel's mouth with a metal-like taste.

"Whatever!" The two ran off, leaving the brothers.

"You alr-" Sam started.

"Go away." Gabe spat, pushing himself up off the ground and dusting himself off. He spat onto the ground, his saliva a pure, deep red from the other boy's blood. "I don't need you babysitting me..." A hankerchief was pulled from his pocket and used to wipe his mouth to try and remove evidence of him biting and tearing flesh.

"I know you don't want me helping, but I can't help it! You never fight back until I show up! You're gonna get seriously hurt someday." Sam ranted at his younger brother, who paid little attention to him.

"I should've guessed it'd be you two..." A girl with blonde hair ran up, the almost-white locks hung off her head in a long ponytail. She saw Gabriel covered in dirt with blood smeared around his mouth. "Sweetie!? What did they do!?" She lunged towards the younger boy.

"Nothing!" The red head backed up and stomped off, tired of being around the other two. "And stop calling me that!" Was the last thing that could be heard from him.

"Just give him a bit, Franky..." Sam sighed and wrapped his arm around the girl. Francine rested her head on the boys shoulder and looked on sadly.

"I'm worred about him..." She closed her eyes and welcomed the feeling of her boyfriend's embrace.

"...same here..." The 18 year old kissed the top of her head to try and comfort her. "He's even been having trouble at home... I move out in a few months... how am I gonna look after him?" Sam rubbed his forehead with the hand of the arm that wasn't wrapped around a girl.

"Him and your parents still going at it?" She looked up at him with sadness in her big brown eyes. "What's it this time."

"Yeah... he's still stealing from the slug supply, but he finally told us why. He keeps saying that all the slugs are sick and aren't being taken care of properly..." He sighed and started leaning on Francine, who held up his weight with ease.

"And you're folks are still uspet because he's 'stealing' their prophet'?"

"Yep..." The two headed off towards the school buidling as the bell rang for everybody to go to class.


	14. Chapter 14

"Whatever! I don't care!" Gabe screamed. He shoved his arm into the sleeve of his jacket and stomped up to his room on the verge of tears. A large group of slugs greeted him with curious chirping. "I'm done! I'm... I'm out of here!" He began packing his things up into a small sack, but only the important things. Like his wallet, a bunch of things he had gotten for his slugs, and his sketchbook as well as supplies for drawing.

A Flaringo hopped up to look at him, worried for the boy.

"Don't look at me like that..." He sighed at the small creature before tossing his bag over his shoulder and heading down the stairs. He glared at his father for a few seconds, two pairs of green eyes staring knives at each other as his father glared back. "Fuck off!" Gabriel screamed again, ripping open the door and slamming it shut behind him. The boy stomped down the road and out into the city with tears leaving a temporary trail behind him.

He was walking for days with no where to go, he had made it half way across Slugterra within two weeks. The only problem was that he had run out of money for things to drink, and he was stuck in one of the hotter, drier caverns. The heat bit at his skin as he hobbled down the road, barely standing. A wild slug chirped at him and ignored it, or didn't hear it. After another 20 minutes of walking he couldn't carry himself anymore and ended up collapsing on the side of the road outside of a city, still in the dessert climate.

"Hey... kid!" A voice woke Gabe up from his slumber. "You alright? You're gonna end up deader than dead if ya sleep here." Two sets of hands pulled him up into a sitting position. The two men winced when they saw how tired the boy was, and how dirty he was.

"Come on, we got some water if you want it." One of them pointed over his shoulder to an area just beside the busy town. Gabriel couldn't help but perk up at the offer, his throat almost too dry for him to speak, so he just stuck to nodding.

"Let's go." The other man lead Gabe along with a gentle hand.

"Thank-you..." Gabriel mumbled as he ate and drank. "I-I feel bad for intruding... but thank-you so much!

"Don't thank us! We love helping out folks like you!" One of the men grinned at the boy before offering him more bread. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Gabriel..." He stopped eating for a few seconds.

"Alrighty, Gabriel. I'm Rick, and this is Rory." One of the men spoke, his eyes were a deep blue and he wore a red toque on his head that caused his long brown hair to stick out at weird angles. He motioned towards the man who sat next to him, who's hair was short and a silver-blue colour. Stubble covered his face and helped distract from the few teeth he was missing from his happy grin.

"So, what're ya doing out all on yer own? It's dangerous in these parts... especially if ya ain't prepared..." Rory leaned back on the couch that he was sharing with Rick.

"I... ran away from home..." The red head admitted, already trusting the two men.

"What?! Why!?" They both spoke at the same time.

"My parents! It's been going on for years! They have this bullshit business where they sell high level slugs for big bucks... but they overwork the little guys so they're all sick, I try to take them in and take care of them so they actually work but they just yell at me! I've even been breeding them! They should be thanking me for increasing stocks!" Gabe lost control of his ranting and ended up sobbing into his hands.

"Calm down, kiddo." Rick moved over to wear Gabe sat and patted his shoulder. "It... sounds like your life back home is pretty sour... but you know you need to head back." His voice took on a more serious tone.

"No! Fuck them! I'd rather die! Besides, I've been out for two weeks and none of them care." He pouted and glared at the empty glass that sat on the table in front of him.

"Well... if you're that set on not going home, then hang around here for a few days." Rory sighed and rubbed his temples to try and ease and oncoming headache from the heat and stress.

"I couldn't..." Gabe muttered. "It's already bad enough I'm eating all your food..." He motioned to the food that had been put onto a plate for him.

"No! Eat up! You need it!" Rory grabbed a fork and tried to shove a piece of insect meat into Gabe's mouth.

"Please! No, I-I don't eat meat!" The boy protested, pushing the morsel away with his hands.

"What?" Rick tilted his head.

"I hate the flavour and texture of it... plus, I've got an intolerance to it..." He sighed, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Oh man... I'm so sorry..." Rory dropped the fork onto the table, looking scared that he had hurt the boy.

"Don't worry about it... common mistake..." The boy brushed it off and tried to laugh at the event. "so... what are your guys's stories?" Gabe tilted his head slightly, his green eyes full of curiousity.

"Not much to say..." Rick started. "We've been hanging around together for awhile, you know, homeless and living with each other. One day we decided to take what little money we had saved up for a fun night out and went gambling in one of the shadier corners of Slugterra. Big mistake." Rory chuckled from wear he sat before Rick continued speaking. "We ended up waking up in some hotel room somewhere with a marriage certificate." The both of them chuckled and smiled fondly at the memory.

"R-really!?" Gabe looked at them shocked.

"Yep~" Rory took over the story. "We did a bit of looking around and it turned out to be legit. We had the money for a divorce... we just never got around to it. Turns out we were meant to be." The men smiled at each other before sitting close, Rory putting his arm around RIck's shoulders.

"Wow. You two are lucky." Gabe smiled, kind of amazed at the story.

"Yeah, lucky except for the fact that this guy farts like a Flatulorhinkus!" Rory chuckled.

"You do too!" Rick shouted.

"Oh yeah..." They both laughed at each other, Gabe smiled warmly at how well they got along.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey... where's Gabe?" Sam spoke up. He he had been at his parents's house for at least 3 hours now, and he had seen nothing of the little guy.

"He doesn't live here anymore." Delilah flipped the page of the magazine, not caring for what her youngest son was doing or where he was.

"What!? What do you mean he doesn't live here!? He's a fucking 15 year old he can't be out on his own!" He stood up, knocking a table at just the right angle for a plate to fall off and shatter on the floor, his mother looked at it with distaste and sighed at the loss of a pefectly good dish. "Y... you care more about a goddamned dish than you do your own son!?" The 18 year old began screaming.

"It doesn't matter! All he did was cost us profit anyways!" Sterling spat, pulling a cigarette from his pocket lighting it.

"Pro... profit!? You people are sick!" Sam shouted one last statement before rushing out the door and mounting his mecha beast, a dragon-like machine with a dark blue base colour and silver detailing. He revved the engine and rode off, having difficulty seeing through his tears and trying not to vomit at the thought of loosing his little brother...


	16. Chapter 16

"Goodmorning, Egg~" Rick shouted as Gabriel stepped out from his section of the tiny house that sat nicely in the hobo-camp just outside of a cavern. Gabe yawned, waved at the man, then began his morning routine. He stepped outside and stretched his arms up to the sky, joining Rory by a small fire outside, using it to cook up some herbs and insects. Over the past two or three months Gabriel had spent with the man he had grown accustomed to eating like this, it wasn't too bad as long as you looked past the weird legs and several eyes.

"How ya feelin' sport?" The man greeted the boy with a rough punch to the shoulder.

"Tired as balls..." The red head laughed and rubbed his eyes.

"I can tell..." Rory gave him a slight nudge and returned to cooking breakfast. "Here, take this for a sec, gotta take a leak." He handed the pan to the teenager before wandering off to a group of bushes.

"Right, pa-" Gabe stopped himself and slapped his forehead for letting that slip out. It was a recent thing, accidentally calling the two men his fathers, they'd usually just brush it off and poke fun at him for it. It was especially bad when he let a 'daddy' slip out, like some sort of lost infant.

"Where's babe?" Rick stepped out into the light of day and shielded his eyes.

"Peeing on some poor plant." Gabe gave a short reply, Rick just sighed and took the empty seat next to the boy.

"Breaky looks good~" The man licked his lips, obviously hungry from not eating for a few hours.

"About as good as a bug that's been cut open can look." Gabe joked and sniffed the air, taking in the delicious smell of their food. "I think it's done..." He stood and began heading inside to divide it into three portions. Just as Rick took his seat Rory ran into the house, hoping not to miss breakfast.

They all ate in silence, which was a good sign to that the food tasted pretty good.

"Hey, kid." Rick nudged Rory with his elbow. Gabriel looked up from his plate with a leaf hanging from his mouth, he always had to pick out the greens from the dish to eat, never ate any of the meats unless he was starving. "So... you've been with us a few months... and we've noticed you've been letting a few 'papa's and 'daddy's slip..." The two men grinned at each other.

"Just get to the point!" Gabe shouted, his cheeks flushing slightly at the thought of those childish mistakes.

"Well, we figured... we should give you the offer to be a real part of our family. Like... our son?" Rick cleared his throat, both men waiting for a response.

"What?" Gabe shook his head and gazed at them in disbelief.

"We've always wanted a son, but adopting is so much work and the only thing you can find are annoying little kids who are a pain in the ass and hella expensive, ugh." Rory stuck his tongue out to emphasize his distaste for kids. "So... we thought a 15 year old would be a good age to adopt at... care to take the spot?" He smiled and offered his hand to the boy.

"I..." Gabe started, having to choke back a few tears. He smiled up at them and grabbed his hand. "I will!" He nodded and let a tear or two slip out when he saw how happy it made Rick and Rory to hear him say yes.


	17. Chapter 17

Gabriel had taken up running, not just on the ground. Thanks to the camps he had gone to he had decent agility and strength, plus his days as a toddler that he had spent running around with his... brother... He was able to climb up trees easily and jump along the branches, as well as running along rooftops and swinging from any structure he could. His only problem was when he hit a week branch, which didn't always end well. Sometimes, though, it resulted in him finding something amazing. This time around, it just happened to be a new home. He had fallen out of a tree and landed on the grassy ground, only to look up and find a gross looking building. The walls were all crumbling and half of the ceiling had caved in, but he instantly fell in love with it.

With cautious steps he entered the building, pushing open the door, even though he could've just walked in through one of the holes in the wall. With a loud creak, the door actually fell off the hinges and into his hands, so he just left it on the floor and stepped over it. It was beautiful on the inside. An old librabry with shelves still stocked with books, sure half the place was burnt and covered in cobwebs, but the rest of it was amazing. He figured that if he could get the money he could fix this place up easily. A box caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. As he got closer her could see it was full of old newspapers, the one on the top, and the most recent, read:

_"Cavern mysteriously disappears without a trace, nothing left but half of an old library."_

That phrase sent shivers down Gabe's spine, he really didn't want to know what was capable of tearing down an entire cavern like that... so he pushed the box off to the side so it was out of the way.

The middle of the building was kind of weird, it had three levels. The outer most edge, and the highest, allowed Gabriel to reach some of the books, but not past the third or fourth shelf due to his small size. The second level was more like a very wide step that led down to the final level. In the middle of the room was a dip in the floor, a perfect circle that would be perfect somebody to sit and read all day. He made sure to keep note of the area so he could find this place again.

On his way out he decided to try and take a short cut, but he had gone the wrong way. He slid down a muddy slope and down into a thick forest. He could hear chirping, but not much. The source of the sound was unknown, he couldn't see any slugs, until he turned around to see 8 of the little creatures staring at him with big yellow eyes. Purple antennae stuck out from little black bodies with purple bellies. When he saw what breed they were he began panicking. He was face to face with an extremely endangered species; Gastly slugs. There were only 10 of them left, two of which were in special care to breed, and the last 8 were put in a special environment that no human was allowed to step foot in, and here Gabe was. Right in their territory. The slugs all looked up at him curiously tilting their tiny heads this way and that.

"I'm... I-I-I'm sorry... I shouldn't be here..." He began slowly backing away, one of the smaller creatures hopped towards him. "No! Stay here!" He spoke to them in slug, chirping and trilling with hopes that they'd understand him. The slug still hopped forward until it was sitting on the toe of his boot.

'Help us!' It chirped up to him. 'Our species is dying out... help!' It begged again.

"I-I'm sorry... I can't... I'm not allowed to touch you guys!" Gabe spoke in english.

'If we're left out here on our own we'll end up dying off, we really need help!' An older one stepped forward, his antennae slightly wrinkled and bent from age.

"But... people have been trying to do that for years, it never works out!" Gabe broke the news to them.

'That's because they have no idea what they're doing.' An adult slug hopped forward, jumping onto Gabe's hand when he knelt down and offered it to her.

"I wouldn't either!" Gabe argued again, feeling nervous that he might get caught.

'We'll help you!' Called the baby from his boot. 'We know exactly what humans are doing wrong, we know why the babies and parents always die off when people try to breed them!'

"Really?" He looked down at the slug and picked it up in his other hand.

'Yeah! Baby Gastlies are supposed to be left in pure darkness for two weeks... any light and they'll die off. Gastlies are very sensitive so the parents die off as well from depression.' One of the slugs on the forest floor spoke up.

"Wow..." Gabe mumbled. "I... I guess I could help you out..." He spoke slug this time, the little creatures all began cheering and squeaking before climbing up his body to nuzzle his face. "I just... don't have anywhere to keep you guys..." He sighed.

'There's an old library up on the hill, there are some places that are extremely dark. If one of the females is giving birth you can just put them in there and leave them for two weeks with a decent supply of food.' Another adult spoke up, offering his advice to the boy.

"I guess so... b-but I want to fix that place up... so I can have a way to check on you guys without light getting in..." The boy thought out loud.

'We can wait...' The oldest slug chirred, nodding at the red head.

"A-Alright." Gabriel nodded back.


	18. Chapter 18

"That's right, hand it over!" The largest man shouted, no older than 19.

"No! Leave me alone!" The woman shouted and squirmed, holding tightly onto her purse so the thugs wouldn't be able to steal it away from her. Two men were holding tightly onto her arms so she couldn't run away.

"Hey!" Came a voice from down the road. The four figures looked over to see a boy, who's red hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail and the rest of the his hair hung in his face. By the looks of his clothing it was obvious he was pretty poor, his brown jacket was long and torn up in places, the short sleeves were stained from sweat, and what looked like blood. The same went for his blue shirt and dark brown pants, which were tucked into a muddy pair of black boots that looked to be too big for the guy. He looked to be very young, but his furrowed brows and the snarl on his lips seemed to say that he was at least 15.

"What the hell do you want?!" The leader of the thugs shouted, turing his body slightly to face Gabriel.

"I want you to pick on somebody of your own size!" The teenager stepped forward. Stopping and feeling kind of awkward when he pressed his chest against the other boys's and realized he didn't even reach the guy's shoulder.

"And who would that be?" One of the men holding the woman joked, seeing Gabe wince at the crack about his height.

"I meant me!" The red head felt frustrated at the situation. "Run." He told the woman to do the second her arms were released, she obeyed and left the group in the dust as she sped off with her purse.

"Get him." The biggest man nodded towards the tiny teenager. His lackeys obeyed, grabbing onto Gabe's arms and not letting go. They were a little surprised though, as the boy was oddly strong for his size as he thrashed to loosen himself from their grip. "I don't like being interrupted. I especially don't like being interrupted when I'm about to make big bucks from digging through a woman's purse. So, to make up for this, I've decided you can pay me back in blood."

"Fuck off." Gabriel tried his best to sound tough, but couldn't help but feel afraid when the thug pulled out a knife, clean and sharp. The boy's expression stayed hard and tough as the blade was dug into the flesh on his chin. It left a deep gash as it trailed up his tender flesh, through his lips, and stopping about and inch above his mouth. As an attempt to get a reaction out of the boy, he flipped the blade around and dragged it back down the wound, going slightly off track at the bottom, causing the wound to take on a 'Y' shape. By this time blood had covered a good portion of Gabe's chin, and it was all he could taste. It didn't hurt as much as it annoyed the red head.

"You don't like that? Fight me, bitch." The thug chuckled along with his lackeys.

"Ok~" Gabriel smirked, waiting for a few seconds until all attention was on him. He felt the grips on his arms tighten, which signaled him to begin. With awkward flexibility he brought one of his legs forward, swinging it back so his foot tucked up behind his back to strike one of the goons right in the crotch. The second he was able to wiggle his arm he freed it and grabbed the collar of the other man. With a quick twist of his body he threw the figure over his head down onto the ground along with his own weight, making sure his elbow dug into the area between his shoulder blades, dragging a scream from the body beneath him. To prove his point he grabbed the man's arm that had previously been holding Gabe's own and pulled it behind the guy's back until he heard a muffled pop as the shoulder was pulled from the socket. Gabe stood up and dusted his clothes off and wiped some blood from his mouth.

"Hey fucker!" The leader ran up behind Gabriel and wrapped his arm around the boy's neck. Without thinking Gabe panicked, remembering the feeling of being strangled. By this point the teenager's mind had shut down for a few seconds, allowing instincts to take over, which made the boy crowch down low before launching himself high into the air. With a shout he twisted his body in the strangest of ways, getting his legs around the bigger male's neck. A few seconds of thrashing was enough to satisfy the boy before he threw his body back, bringing his ride down hard onto the ground. While he was down Gabriel took the opportunity and rolled back into a standing position, then brought his foot down onto the side of the thug's face, slowly applying more and more pressure to wrangle screams of pain from him.

"What..." Gabe muttered to himself when he came back to full consciousness, confused as to how he had won and how he had come to be standing on the thug's face.

"Y-You win! Just let us go!" The man beneath his boot sobbed, when the boy lifted his foot he saw a deep mark on the guy's face. The three men ran off swearing through their fear, leaving Gabe still wondering what the fuck just happened. Metallic taste covered his tongue when he took a deep breath in, reminding the boy of the injury on his lip. He ran his finger over the cut and sighed, knowing that with how deep the mark was it was bound to scar over...


	19. Chapter 19

"You want to do what?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"I want to open my own booth on the market!" Gabe repeated himself. "I-I want the money so I can stop relying off you guys for everything..." The 15 year old cleared his throat.

"Well, alright. But, what are ya gonna sell?" The man tilted his head and raised one of his shaggy brows.

"Art! I do a lot of it, mostly graffiti stuff." The boy admitted. He had spent a lot of his days hanging out with some 19 and 20 year old hobos, using cans of paint to colour the sides of old buildings with their art.

"You have the supplies?" Rick added in, leaning on his husband's shoulder.

"Yeah, my friends gave me some paints and canvases a few weeks ago. I've been too scared to use them, so I figured if people pay me to do it I'll be able to get some stuff done." The boy was obviously determined.

"Aright then, we'll pay the fee and get ya a booth~" Rick grinned, Rorry just shook his head and returned to his newspaper.

"Thank-you so much!" Gabriel ran over and hugged his fathers before dashing out of the house to tell his tiny group of friends.


	20. Chapter 20

"Good luck, kiddo." An 18 year old leaned back in his lawn chair. "Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, makes it out of here. Trust me." On the last word he tapped is cigarette, letting stray ashes fall into the wet dirt below him.

"I've had a booth for like two weeks, and I've already made 180 bucks~" Gabriel bragged, taking a sip from the can of beer his older friend had given him. He was homeless, legal drinking age had nothing on him.

"Yeah, but what are you gonna have left after buying new art supplies?" A 25 year old spoke up as he sat down with the two of them.

"180." Gabe raised an eyebrow, he had already bought more supplies and was counting in what he had left.

"Oh..." The two older boys looked at each other, the younger of the two cleared his throat before going on.

"That still doesn't mean you can get out of here. The hobo-life is a one way trip. Trust me, Doug here won the lottery last week , got a job and a house, lost it all in three months." He pointed towards his friend who had opened a bottle of wine he had stolen from a nearby liquor store.

"It's true." He spoke after taking a swig from the bottle. Once you're a hobo there's no escaping it..."

"Whatever..." Gabe shook his head and went back to his beer. "I should be heading out, I open up soon." He left with a burp, taking the can with him and finishing it before making it to the market street.

He liked his place, it was right next to a corner, so he only had one other booth near him. And it was a very talented older man who played guitar, so Gabe always had some form of entertainment. There were times where Gabriel got caught up in the music and sang a long to his strumming, which often earned them both quite a bit of cash.

As his time went on with his booth, which was about two years, life improved a lot, he managed to get close to 1000 gold, half of it went to his dads, the other went to his slugs and restoring his hideout. During all this time he had managed to actually double the Gastly population, now having 16 of the slugs to look after, he needed more money, which was easy to get. After giving so much money to his fathers he was welcomed home one day with a very special gift, his own mecha beast! It was a small dog looking piece of equipment, rusted and a little awkward looking, but it worked perfectly!

It was after that, that Gabe's like took a bit of a dip. He ended up with a horrible art block and had to sell off his booth for awhile, saying goodbye to his guitar playing friend. The kid was stuck begging on the street out in the sun with a sign saying.

"NEED MONEY FOR FOOD FOR SLUGS"

People would often take one look at his sign and walk off, his handwriting wasn't that bad! Was it? No, it couldn't of been... One day he had let his head hang down, resting it on his sore arms.

"Hey, looks like you need a little help." The boy looked up and froze, seeing Will Shane looking down at him. This was the same man who he and Francine and worshipped their entire childhoods, hoping to either work with him or to be like him...

"I-I..." Gabe started, but was stopped when a bag was dropped into his lap. There were at least 5000 coins in it! "Tha-thank-you!" Gabe looked up with tears in his eyes.

"Don't mention it." Will chuckled. Say, you look kind of hungry. What do ya say I take you out, my treat?" The man smiled, wanting to help out anyone whose first concern was their slugs.

"I couldn't!" Gabe protested, not wanting to inconvenience the hero.

"Don't worry about it, come on." He motioned for the boy to stand, he obeyed and fidgeted with his gloves, which were falling apart at the seam.

They had gone to a pretty cheap place, which was good for Will since Gabriel had ordered at least 30 veggie burgers and ate them all within 5 minutes.

"You sure are hungry?" He laughed at the boy.

"Uh... yeah..." Gabe chuckled nervously. "I don't eat often..." he admitted before shoving another burger into his mouth.

"You don't eat meat?" The man asked one he realized what kind of patties the boy was eating.

"Oh... oh no, meats never been a big thing for me." He looked nervously at the man. "I only eat it if my other option is starving to death. With a chuckled he shoved another burger into his mouth and washed it down with a soda.

"You know, I've got a son... he's 4 or 5 years old now..." Will scratched his chin, feeling a little guilty that he couldn't remember his own son's age.

"Really?" Gabriel asked with a full mouth so the word came out slightly muffled.

"Yup, you kind of remind me of him. Full of energy, loves slugs, eats like a bottomless pit." Will chuckled and ruffled the boys hair. "He's far away though, in a safe place with his mom." The man sighed, his eyes growing soft as he thought about his boy.

"What's his name? If you don't mind me asking that is..." Gabe scolded himself for asking a question like that.

"Eli." The man laughed as he spoke the name.

"That's a nice name." Gabriel smiled at how happy the man looked.

After that day the two of them made plans to go for lunch at least once a week, twice if they had the time. Eventually Gabe was able to pick up his booth again, next to his guitarist friend, he loved his life being back to normal, with the addition of having Will Shane as a friend.

At least, it was all back to normal until a man showed up at his booth one day...

"Now then, what is such a young child doing out on their own?" The man approached a stand that stood out from the rest. It was run by a young boy, his hair as red as dark water, he was selling what looked like graffiti art. It was pretty good too. When he spoke the boy looked up suddenly from what he was previously working on...


End file.
